Yes, as long as it is done right

The standardization of schools has definitely lowered the ability to teach and learn, but given the right circumstances schools are still bastions of learning. The support of good teachers, districts, administrators, and parents makes all the difference. If people can quit thinking that everyone learns exactly the same way, and realize that teachers actually do know what they are doing, then schools can continue to teach students.

Yes, but.

It is an undeniable fact that the knowledge and education of the average person has been heightened by our current education system. It has definitely helped people learn. However, I would argue that despite what it has done, it can still be done far better than it currently is done. There are many different types of people and methods of learning that our current system does not support, an to its detriment. Education can still be made more interesting, better suited to the individual, and generally improved- and we should strive towards that.

Yes it is.

I would not be able to teach my children all of the rules of grammar and writing, or math, at home by myself. Teachers go to school and learn how to teach. I send my children to school to learn the things that I could not effectively teach them. That is not to say that all teachers are effective in what and how they teach, but my children learn and benefit from going to school.

Learning needs to be a life-long process.

Schooling needs to be geared more towards individuals and topics need to be taught until students understand how they are applicable to areas outside of school and how everything is connected, not until they can pass a test on it. I believe being in public school has actually decreased my intelligence and creativity. Students are not bowls to be filled with information, but rather plants that take time to grow. Our schooling system is the reason shows like "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" can exist. After leaving school, all the information leaves our minds because it is not connected to any other topics. Most of the things I know I had to teach myself. The school system needs to be seriously rethought.

No, schooling is too standardized.

Learning should arise out of a spontaneous desire to know or understand something. Schooling a child often means that we have decided that there are certain things the child has to know, and we force them to learn those things. In the process they also get compared to others who do better or worse than themselves at these assigned tasks. The act of schooling as such inhibits a child's natural curiosity. If we must "school" children, we should treat them like college students with an open field of electives. They would then be able to follow their minds down the paths they want to go and they will learn the things they need to know in order to get there. If a child wants to learn the thoughts of an ancient figure and that figure only wrote in Latin, well then, the child will want to learn Latin. In our schooling establishments we possibly stifle a lot of children and see to it that they think learning is not a fun thing to do.